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(No Model.) S. W. ASHMEAD.

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* M A By w THE "cums PETERS 1:0,, PnoTo-umm. vusumcrou, u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SEELY VV. ASHMEAD, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF TWVO-THIRDS TO JOSEPH M. OSI-IEA AND THOMAS B. CREWVS, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-BIUFFEVR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,338, dated October 28, 1890.

Application filed March 18, 1890- Serial No. 344,310. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SEELY WILLIAMS AsH- MEAD, of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Car Bufiers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description;

My invention relates to an improvement in buffers or an anti-friction buffer adapted for use in connection with railway-cars, engines,

tenders, and other rapid-transit cars or carriages requiring such applicances.

It consists in the construction hereinafter described and claimed. I

, Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters and figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved car-bufier. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on line a: at of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the body of the buffer, with the cap or plate removed therefrom exposing the ball cavities or depressions, and also illustrating the oil-receptacle in longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is a rear view of a portion of the cap-plate of the body of the buffer, and Fig. 5 is an edge view illustrating the buffers of two coupling cars in contact.

The common buffer is a device or bearing used in connection with railway passengercars, and consists of a spring and bar or rod, the outer end of which rod is widened to a fiathead, orhas such a head welded to it. The spring and rod operate conjointly and rest horizontally in the same line under the car platform, and the spring abuts or bears on the cross-beam or other part of the car-body, while the broadened end of the head of the bar proj e'cts beyond the car-platfor1n, and generally at a point near the center and just above the coupling.

The average size of the projecting head of the buffer is a length of some ten or twelve inches, a widthjof perhaps eight or ten inches, and a thickness of two or three inches,.th ough they are constructed of various dimensions. The head has a nearly-flat or sometimes convexed outer surface. When two cars are driven together these heads projecting beyond the platforms of the cars, come in contact; but the springs on which the rods or bars rest are elastic enough to permit the coupling to connect, and yet strong enough to check the cars and the force of the collision.

WVhen the cars are in motion, these buffers rest upon each other, and the irregular motion of the cars or any unevenness of the tracks cause them to rub or slide upon one another. V The constant friction of these fiat or convexed iron or metal surfaces causes rapid wear of the materiah'breakage, and a grating, grinding, disagreeable noise, producing in the one case'a great expense and labor in repairing and in the other an annoyance that detracts much from the pleasure and comfort of the traveling public. My invention is designed to avoid these objections by the use of a buffer whose head or projecting end will be thoroughly anti-frictional, and by the novel construction and combination of its several parts, as hereinafter described.

The invention is most properly defined as an anti-friction buffer, for the gist of the improvement consists in the fact that it avoids the Wear and the grating and grinding of the ordinary buffer and makes the car run lighter and easier. It is both useful and economical, and promotes the safety, comfort, ease, and pleasure of the public.

I propose to replace that portion of the buffer comprised in the projecting head with a head A, similarly or equivalently attached to a bar and spring, but consisting of a box or body 10 and chilled iron or hard metal balls 11, two in number, both being located at one end of the box or body, and confined in the same by a lid or cover 12, provided with apertures 13, the walls of which are beveled upon the inner face of the plate, as illustrated at a in Fig. 4, to conform to the shape of and fit over the inclosed balls, so that said balls may-be project ed beyond the lid or cover a'short distance but cannot escape. These apertures 13 are in all cases to be less in diameter than the diameter of the balls inclosed, and are to fit loosely yet securely over the balls. The box or body is hollowed out or provided with semi-spherical depressions let at two points where the balls are to be inserted,

the depressions being slightly larger than the balls, and the balls rest or bear on a rim or projecting circular seat 15, which extends around in the said depressions about midway between the center and bottom thereof, or at any other convenient location. The two depressions are made in the same line and at one end of the box only, and from the top of the box a hole 16 is bored, extending downward at right angles to and through the bottom of both of the above-referred-to depres sions, as is shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The lower parts of these depressions and the cavities thus bored out in their bottoms are filled with sponge 17, or other material capable of absorbing and holding oil, and the said material is kept saturated with oil or other lubricant introduced from a cup or receptacle 18, located at the top of the bufier and provided with a spile 19 extending downward within the bore 16. The attached oil-cup may be of any desired size, but that most convenient conforms to the shape and size of the buffer-head. The

surface of the body around the depressions let is channeled, as shown at b in Fig. 3, to receive a packing 20, which packing is held in place by the plate or lid 12, and the said packing contacts directly with the peripheral surface of the balls, the packing serving the purpose of keeping the surface of the balls im mediately within the lid constantly lubricated, as the said packing absorbs all of the surplus lubricating material. Thus should the oil in the oilcup fail the balls will not be kept entirely dry.

The plate or lid 12, which is made of chilled iron orotherhard or durable metal, is securely fastened to the box or body, and the balls which project through the apertures in the lid may be turned readily in the depressions.

Vhen two cars equipped with this buffer are brought together, as shown in Fig. 5, the two projecting balls in each buffer will come in contact with and rest upon the surface of the lid of each opposed buffer, and the two sets of balls thus operating or rolling on the lid of each opposite buffer prevent contact of the plates with each other and make a thoroughly anti-friction connection.

I do not confine myself to the employment of but two balls in the buffer if it should be found advantageous to use more than that number.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination, with thebufiers adapted to be located, as usual, at opposite sides of the draw-head, of anti-friction rollers mounted in said buffersto engage the faces of the opposing buffers, substantially as set forth.

2. Thecombination,with thebufiersadapted to be located, as usual, at opposite sides of the draw-head, of anti-friction rollers located in each buffer to one side of the center to engage those portions of the opposing buffers which have no rollers, substantially as set forth.

3. A buifer having a depression in its face to one side of its center, an annular groove 19 in the face of the buffer around said depression, an absorbent filling in said groove, a ball within the recess and projecting out thereof, and a plate secured to the face of the bufi'er and having an aperture through which a part of the ball projects, substantially as set forth.

at. The combination, with the head of a carbutfer, of friction rollers or balls held to revolve therein and projected out therefrom and a lubricator communicating with the recesses in which the balls revolve, substantially as specified. Y

5. The combination, with the head of a carbuffer, of friction rollers or balls held to revolve therein and extending beyond the front face of the head, the seating-depressions in the head being provided with a rib, the surface of which rib only contacts with the balls or rollers, substantially as shown and described.

6. The combination, with the head of a carbuffer and friction rollers or balls held to turn in the said head and projected beyond the front face thereof, of an oil receptacle attached tothe buffer and a connection be tween the said oil-receptacle and the seats of the said balls or rollers, as and for the purpose specified.

SEELY W. ASHMEAD. Witnesses:

JOSEPH M. OSHEA, THos. B. OREws. 

